


Witness

by atamascolily



Category: Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magika | Puella Magi Madoka Magica
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen, Inspired by Fanart, Psychological Horror, Two Endings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-15
Updated: 2021-03-15
Packaged: 2021-03-18 22:02:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29989473
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/atamascolily/pseuds/atamascolily
Summary: Alone in her apartment, Mami realizes something's off.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 9





	Witness

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by [this amazing fanart GIF by gaulllimaufry on Tumblr](https://gaulllimaufry.tumblr.com/post/83543310715/feeling-kin-d-a-tired-lately). 
> 
> I wrote two different endings and couldn't decide which one I liked better. I'm including both so you can decide which you prefer.

The sun hangs heavy on the horizon, staining the sky a bloody orange. Everything else is bathed in a blinding light that brings only despair. Mami has learned from grim experience that witches are more active in this transitory time then they are in full dark, taking advantage of the glare and the ever-widening shadows to prey on the tired salarymen and weary children wending their way home.

To Mami's chagrin, she isn't immune to the effects of the glare herself, slumping over the dining room table and staring vacantly out through the floor to ceiling glass window that dominates the western wall of her apartment. On a normal day, she'd be out on patrol for witches by now, but she fell asleep over her tea when she stopped by after school to drop off her books. Now she lingers in that uncanny space between sleep and waking, struck by a low-level malaise that cuts through her usual industry.

 _What's happening to me?_ she wonders through the fog. _Am I coming down with something?_

Strange. She hasn't been ill since she made her contract with Kyubey and became a magical girl two years earlier. Mami faces down death every day--so much so it's become routine--yet she's never had to worry about any lesser miseries. Perhaps her luck has finally run out. Or perhaps--

\--perhaps it's far more sinister.

Dazed as she is, there's no mistaking that something is wrong. The air hangs heavy and oppressive around her, weighing her down so that every movement is an effort. She can barely raise her head up from the table on her pillowed arms. Everything is lost in the orange glare streaming through the windows, the familiar lines of the furniture and potted plants transformed into shapeless, distorted lumps.

_This isn't right. Am I going crazy?_

Mami's been alone for so long now, barely speaking to anyone except when called on in class. She eats by herself at lunch, and walks home alone before starting her daily patrol for witches. Maybe all the stress of studying for exams and keeping her grades up on top of all the witch battles is finally taking a toll.

The last witch had been especially tricky, specializing in illusions. Once Mami had figured out their source, however, she'd made quick work of the monster, and it wouldn't harm anyone ever again.

 _You should rest,_ a voice whispered in the back of her mind. _Relax. Take a break until you regain her strength. Haven't you worked so hard to protect everyone? Haven't you earned a little time to yourself for once?_

And the thought is so seductive, she almost believes it--until a movement flickers in her peripheral vision, distracting her from that compelling argument. Mami turns expecting nothing in particular, only to gasp in shock. The photograph of her parents on the bookshelf is gone, replaced by a single, blinking red eye.

Every photograph in the room has suffered the same fate. Most of the eyes are red, but a few here and there are blue, or green or some indeterminate shade between, all of them blinking in a steady rhythm from the shelter of their ornate frames. In the smaller photos, each eye is turned on its side; the larger frames sport two.

Mami sits up, or tries to. Her movements are lumbering and slow, instead of the usual quick and graceful dance, her enhanced reactions dull and hazy. She stares at the blinking eyes, who gaze back at her in implacable silence. They have no mouth and cannot speak, but there's no need. She already knows what they represent.

She may only just now be aware of them, but those eyes have been witness to everything she's ever done in her life. All her successes and failures are lie bare and exposed beneath their penetrating gaze; they see all, know all, and they judge her for it.

 _You were selfish,_ they say, with only the flicker and blink of their lids to drive the point home. _You only wished for yourself when you could have saved your family. We see you. We know what you did. You deserve to punished. There is nowhere you can run where we can't find you, and punish you--unless you punish *yourself* first--_

She gasps, clutching her head with her hands as if to ward off the unspoken accusations. It's a juvenile strategy, the logic of a child who screams 'If I can't see you, you can't see me' when confronted when an unwelcome visitor.

_You deserve to die--_

_make it stop make it stop make it STOP--_

Her soul gem flares in answer.

**Dark Ending**

The sun sets and the shadows lengthen on the far horizon. Perched on the rooftop of a nearby office building, Kyubey registers an unexpected burst of power in the distance and notes dispassionately that Mami Tomoe has become a witch at last.

**Hopeful Ending**

_This isn't home at all_ , Mami realizes, the insight cutting her to the core. _It never was._ Her school uniform melts away beneath her hands to reveal her magical girl costume beneath. She never transformed out of it--she only _thought_ she had.

This is a labyrinth. She's still fighting that witch from yesterday, the one who gave her so much trouble with illusions--and is still troubling her now. Everything outside of that is a lie meant to coax her into willing surrender so the witch can consume her utterly.

A witch that can manifest an illusion so vivid that an experienced magical girl would fall for it is a powerful foe, not to be underestimated. But Mami's not one to give up so easily herself. Reaching for a rifle, she aims for the nearest eye and fires.

She is rewarded with a howling shriek as the blow hits home.


End file.
